Three police officers stand trial for false reports about crash

During the early morning pursuit of a burglary suspect, three Fort Lauderdale police officers reported that their unmarked car crashed into the fleeing suspect's vehicle after a half-mile chase, causing $4,700 in damages.

That was a lie, prosecutors say.

Detective Sgt. Michael Florenco, 35, Detective Matthew Moceri, 29, and Detective Geoffrey Shaffer, 31, are on trial on four felony counts of official misconduct and four misdemeanor counts of falsifying records. They have been on unpaid leave since May.

Tuesday, Assistant State Attorney Stefanie Newman in her opening statement said damage to both the suspect's vehicle and the police car are inconsistent with the officers' account. Accident reconstruction experts will contradict the police version, she said.

Defense attorneys, however, countered that the state offered no explanation for the "mystery accident" that damaged the officers' car. The officers were risking their lives in apprehending a dangerous fleeing felon, they said.

Early on Nov. 22, 2009, security guards at the Hilton Fort Lauderdale Marina on Southeast 17th Street detained Kenneth Post, 50, who police said broke into a liquor cabinet and loaded his loot into a white 2000 Cadillac. Post then backed into the guards' golf cart, narrowly missing one.

Officer Pedro Cabrera arrived at the scene. He testified that Post peeled off, speeding toward Florenco, Moceri and Shaffer. "He was drivng like a maniac," Cabrera said. "I thought that deadly force was going to be employed."

Cabrera said he chased Post, but lost sight of him. Florenco, Moceri and Shaffer pursued him in an unmarked 2008 Toyota Camry. The chase ended in the 700 block of North Rio Vista Boulevard, when the officers said Post jammed on his brakes, forcing the Camry to slam into the Cadillac's rear.

Newman produced photos of both cars, showing severe damage to the Toyota's right front hood. The damage didn't match that of the Cadillac, which sustained only a dent on its driver's side rear. Defense lawyers indicated it suffered unseen damage to the undercarriage.

Post was taken to the hospital for "injuries that occurred during the accident," said Bradford Cohen, Shaffer's attorney.

But Post's mother, Marian Post, and sisters Janet Kelly and Jayne Post claim the officers, members of a controversial street crimes unit known as the Raiders, severely beat Post, breaking his nose and blackening his eye. Prosecutors dropped charges against Post relating to the chase, but he's still jailed on burglary, assault and theft charges.

Circuit Judge Cynthia Imperato warned the three women, who had been hanging "Free Kenny" posters around the courthouse, not to display fliers or talk to anyone in the case under threat of contempt.

"You can sit in the back of the courtroom and do nothing else," the judge said. Otherwise, "You're going to jail."